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Bobby "Blue" Bland - Greatest Hits, Vol. 2: The ABC-Dunhill/MCA Recordings (1982)

Track listing:
  1. This Time I'm Gone For Good 3:29
  2. Goin' Down Slow 5:30
  3. I Wouldn't Treat A Dog (The Wa 3:11
  4. Ain't No Love In The Heart Of 3:44
  5. Yolanda 3:38
  6. I Ain't Gonna Be The First To 3:33
  7. Today I Started Loving You Aga 3:44
  8. I Hate You 4:11
  9. The Soul Of A Man 3:57
  10. It Ain't The Real Thing 3:18
  11. Sittin' On A Poor Man's Throne 3:58
  12. Let The Good Times Roll 5:27
  13. You'd Be A Millionaire 4:26
  14. Love To See You Smile 5:54
  15. Recess In Heaven 4:37
  16. Soon As The Weather Breaks 4:54

Notes

Subtitled The ABC-Dunhill/MCA Recordings, this picks up the last tenure of Bland working under the corporate MCA umbrella. With tunes aboard from various albums and singles, this 16-track collection covers the highlights from his 1970s period, with only 1982's "Recess in Heaven" falling outside the time frame. Bland was a much different vocalist by now, and if anything, these tracks, some of them flirting outright with disco, spearheaded the easy-listening-blues style that he still spearheads. Highlights include "This Time I'm Gone for Good," an uncharacteristically funky "Goin' Down Slow," "I Wouldn't Treat a Dog (The Way You Treated Me)," "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City," "Yolanda" and Bland's own "The Soul of a Man." Experiments with country show up on "Today I Started Loving You Again" and " "I Hate You," and yet Bland's duet with B.B. King on Louis Jordan's "Let the Good Times Roll" still shows that his blues roots were always close at hand. Not the place to start, but his last hurrah before going over to Malaco, and a solid collection to investigate nonetheless.